PART VI. HOW TO PRACTICE

A Guide to the Functional Systems Facilitation Program

“Work on yourself has no finale. It has depth.”

If the five preceding parts of this book have convinced you that Functional Systems Facilitation is a living, scientifically grounded, and practically workable approach, then a natural next question arises: how do I, personally, enter this practice?

This part of the book answers that question as concretely as I can. I will describe the architecture of entering the program — from the very first independent step to long-term practice within a community, and on into facilitator training. To keep it concrete, I will draw on recurring examples of real participant trajectories (with the names changed).

This guide is built like a staircase: each step has its own value and can be a final destination; each rests on the one before it and opens onto the next. You don’t have to climb any of them — but each one works better when you bring readiness to it.

The plan of this Part:

• Chapter 26 — Where to begin: first steps, available to everyone;

• Chapter 27 — A trial week at the Assemblage Point: the first entry into a living community;

• Chapter 28 — The Intensive: a five-day deep immersion;

• Chapter 29 — The year-long program: long-term work within a community;

• Chapter 30 — The facilitator’s path: for those who want not only to go through the program but to lead it;

• Chapter 31 — Independent practice: what it can and cannot do: for when there is no group right now, or none is available;

• Chapter 32 — How to choose your format: navigating the staircase.